


Painting Faces

by lalunaticscribe



Series: Worlds Beyond Rationality [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 22:01:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8595478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalunaticscribe/pseuds/lalunaticscribe
Summary: One hand rested on his cheek. “You chose your name for a reason. Jì, for ‘season’. Guāng, for ‘light’. And Hóng, which means ‘rainbow’, but also has another meaning – that of the two-headed rainbow dragon (虹).”She let go. “No matter how you insist it, you aren’t human, Hong’er. That is why you need me. Otherwise, how long will your painted face last?”





	

It was fortunate that she appeared close to the end of practice. If she had actually appeared in Skate America, Ji Guang-hong would have set her on fire, masquerade be damned.

“Good evening, Hong’er.”

“I don’t go by that name anymore,” The brunet figure skater sat down by the bleachers, untying the boots of his skates. “Call me Ji Guang-hong!”

“You overestimate your position if you think you can order me around, little _h_ _ó_ _ng_.”

One leg cocked up, directly pointed towards the nondescript woman with Asian features. A haze fell like a curtain around them, hiding them from the notice of the mortals – for Ji Guang-hong was not human, no matter how he looked like one.

“I’m not a rainbow dragon anymore,” he reminded her. “Not that I’m not grateful or anything, but it’s... I left that world for a reason. And, being a rainbow dragon is lousy work. Pollution and smog interferes with the weather, and I still have to take abused from the Ao clan. You’re a dragon too, you know that.”

One hand rested on his cheek. “You chose your name for a reason. _J_ _ì_ , for ‘season’. _Guāng_ , for ‘light’. And _H_ _ó_ _ng_ , which means ‘rainbow’, but also has another meaning – that of the two-headed rainbow dragon (虹).”

She let go. “No matter how you insist it, you aren’t human, Hong’er. That is why you need me. Otherwise, how long will your painted face last?”

A burst of colour erupted. “I’ll take my chances.”

She sighed, dropping a silk bag onto the space between them. “These should last until your event in Beijing. I’ll be attending as well, so come and find me.”

“Huh...” Guang-hong blinked. “ _You_ usually don’t come here. It’s foggy. And smoggy.”

Fingernails lacquered with the colour of mother-of-pearl drummed on the bleacher. “There is a prospective employee to watch out for. I don’t just have eyes on you, Hong’er. The human you have your eye on – does he know what you are?”

Guang-hong waited until she had disappeared into thin air, as those of the supernatural world were prone to do, before he sighed and took the bag of lumpy pearls that lacked nacre, looking almost like pieces of china in a bag. The bag was dropped into his sports bag, before he fished out his cellphone.

Tapping the app icon for LINE, Guang-hong then chose the top of his chats:

**Leo de la Iglesia**

_Leo, I... actually..._

A thumb hovered uncertainly over the screen, before he pressed the backspace key. The chat remained open as he went home and crushed one of the pearls. The white powder sparkled, not like diamonds but with the taint of demonic power, the very pigment that kept Ji Guang-hong as human instead of as a monster.

“Nobody can know,” Guang-hong told himself as he prepared water, ink-brushes and an ink-stone for the powdered pearl, before he reached behind his head. “Please, give me this time.”


End file.
